FAQ UPDATED 8/22/14

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Just wanted to post this for anyone else who wants to avoid my mistakes. I failed to pass the training shifts- They will tell you that you will have lots of chances and will get a meeting to address your issues. In reality, you'll just be terminated. No questions asked.

I had this same thing happen to me in my first EMT job. My FTO never really wanted to give me the light of day as far as training goes (don't know why, I am a really nice guy). I would screw something up, he would tell me what I did wrong and then not give me the tools to fix it. At the end of my training period when my Ops manager was to determine whether or not to extend me my FTO went and exaggerated some of my mistakes stating that "I didn't want to be there. I could not take criticism."

Thankfully the Ops manager listened to my side and instead of firing me just had me resign, get more experience and re apply. In stead I went and got hired at a BETTER company. Life is a bitch sometimes but the marbles settle on the floor somewhere.

I made a few little mistakes each day- overall I was doing great, and I bet if they had just given me another shift tomorrow, I would pass. The things that got me were the driving priority and making pt care decisions, at least yesterday. I stopped for a red light when driving priority, but two feet into the intersection. Company policy says stop at the intersection. The other one was more legit- our patient didn't call 911 but seemed perfectly oriented. I thought we could go, my trainer said we should talk to the daughter who called 911. Obviously a much better idea, and I learned from it. But they called me in today and fired me. No discussion.

You thought you could go from the call? You're new, of course you may not think to ask the daughter. This is why you have a mentor/preceptor. I don't think that's why they would fire you, especially without an explanation.

I can see the stopping at a red light 2 feet into the intersection being a safety hazard, but again -- I'm not in your boat.

I don't see how they would let you go without an explanation. I feel like we're missing some part of the story, especially if you were doing great overall?

That's how I feel too, actually. But I was doing great on everything else. I wasn't going to leave the call, just transport the pt without getting more info from the daughter. And of course now I understand how that would have been a huge mistake- the nurses at HARBORVIEW (!) would have been pissed. And the pt's care would have been compromised, which is not acceptable.
The intersection thing is more complicated- I was in the oncoming lane, pulling up to a big intersection. I slowed waaaay down to ensure that the cars in the lane to my left were stopped. Then i pulled forward to see better and that's when I stopped. But my FTO said i didn't look. I looked. He's got ten years of experience on me. I didn't get a chance to explain myself at all.

You're supposed to come to a complete stop to clear a red light, but I'll bet you that FTO doesn't when he doesn't have a trainee. Hardly anybody follows that rule in practice when they can get away with it (I.e. after probation is over and nobody is watching). Heck, a lot of SFD drivers don't even slow down when going through a light. They're scary.

Not following that rule is stupid. So is responding priority all the time, but that's for another thread.

Get the guy in the passenger seat involved and verbalize.
"I'm clear left. Am I clear right?" and look too instead of trusting them. Exaggerate head motion. Make it obvious you're looking.

You shouldn't post stuff like this. I assume you will be looking for another job in the area. This just makes you look like you're difficult to work with and have a chip on your shoulder. You are most certainly personally identifiable buy the information you've posted already. Someone from the area will see this and you're going to get black-balled in the whole system. At least that is what would happen where I'm from (on the other side of the country).

You can still make your point without identifying yourself. Do that instead.

um...how have I identified myself? I'm really not though, I'm just young and inexperienced. You're probably right though, I just don't understand why it's so bad. Can you give me some more constructive and specific information?